Livestation To Focus On Live News

Last September I wrote about Livestation, a then newly launched online television service in private beta which followed in the footsteps of Joost and Babelgum, but had one clear difference in that it offered 'live' radio/TV streams from popular broadcasters such as BBC. Where all of the competition offers 'on-demand' content that can be paused and played back at any time, Livestation takes the old-school route (similar to traditional television) in providing live video and audio content for its users.

Now, along with a redesigned look (and logo), Livestation has made a smart move in announcing that it will further differentiate its service from others by moving into the niche category of live news. Apparently, statistics from a technical trial (which included well-known international broadcasters Al Jazeera, BBC, Bloomberg, EuroNews, and France 24 among others) showed that during the time since the private beta launched, Livestation viewers have been spending more than 4 hours each month just keeping up with the latest news.

"These statistics are extremely impressive and significantly higher than we expected, considering the limited selection of channels available during the [technical] trial," mentioned Livestation CEO Matteo Berlucchi, hinting that there is a growing appetite for live news online among internet users.

Also, research from GP Bullhound has shown a market for live Internet television and a survey by UK communication authority Ofcom from last July shows that DVR owners would rather watch live news and sports over on-demand or recorded programming.

"While the Internet TV market has been focusing on developing on-demand video platforms, we believe that the market for live video streaming is potentially much larger and of more interest and appeal to computer users", stated Grant Warrell, Director of GP Bullhound. "Live content creates valuable shared experiences and usually represents premium content, making it a key source of revenues for broadcasters. By bringing people together at the same time, live content also creates formidable new opportunities for audience interactivity when delivered on the Internet."

We will soon see just how much potential live online news has, as Livestation has also now announced that it will soon release a new beta version of its software (the service is still private as of now), followed by a public unveiling to come later in 2008.

As far as I am concerned news stories are more effective when live, given the time-sensitivity of the daily content news broadcasters provide. No one wants to watch last week's news because those stories may no longer be relevant. With all of the other online TV services focusing on on-demand content, the new 'live news' direction for Livestation may just be what it needs to stand out and build a user base. First, however, the service needs more than the four news channels that were available at the time of my testing.

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